Edith Cavell

Our plan was to leave Edmonton right after we got off work at 7am, but we decided sleeping a few hours before leaving was prudent. We were looking at the sky on the drive to Jasper, and noticed that there was a full moon, so when we arrived at the Edith Cavell parking lot at 11pm it was so bright that we decided to start climbing right away rather than getting a bit of sleep.

Domhnall stripped down his pack, and carried our extra layers, water and the rack while I carried the rope. Two hours later we were at the top of the ridge. We climbed through the night, and I was thankful for the light from the full moon when my headlamp fell apart.

The sun was just creeping over the horizon shortly before we topped out. The climbing was great and the rock was superb.

It had snowed the night before so we were really careful for the last few hundred meters as it was a bit slippery.

Domhnall on the top

The way down the West Ridge was a bit longer than we had anticipated. I had some difficulty getting down the scree slope, and once we were off the slope we still had a long way to go....about another 10 km to walk around the mountain and back to the road. Domhnall walked the extra 2km to the parking lot to retrieve the truck. I got back to the vehicle at 4pm which made for a 16 hour day.